What if cancer therapy causes more cancer?

May 22, 2007

That's a pretty frightening thought, but it turns out it is often

the case. In the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation,

a study indicated that standard drugs and radiation used to treat

primary breast tumors caused an increase in a Tissue Growth Factor-

beta (TGF-beta) in the blood. This growth factor in test animals

caused the primary breast tumor to spread to the lung. If TGF-beta

was blocked by antibodies given at the same time as the cancer

treatment, then there was no metastasis to the lung.

As the authors wrote, " The repopulation and progression of tumors

after anti-cancer therapy is a well-recognized phenomenon. It has

been shown to occur following radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and

surgery. " So much for looking for a cancer " cure. "

On the other hand, if you had some way to reduce TGF-beta, then you

would be able to use standard cancer treatments with far greater

success. It turns out that such a " drug " already exists -- it's high-

dose fish oil. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in

animal models to significantly reduce growth factors, such as TGF-

beta. It's not that high-dose fish oil will replace drugs, but it

can make them work better at lower doses. With any type of cancer

treatment, that would be a major breakthrough.

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